So what is Pythium's weakness?

[Taqwus]

Huzurdaddi --

Check the Philosophers. They're *very* cheap, being pure researchers (heck, they don't even get a single point of magic) -- 50 gold gets you 5 RP plus magic scale. On a GP/RP basis, the cheapest mainline Pythium researcher is 150 gp Theurg with 6 RP (25gp/RP). In magic +3 the GP/RP costs for a Philosopher drop to 6.25; heck, even in Drain 3 that's 50 AU/2RP which is as good as the Theurg in magic-0 on a pure gold basis.

The one limitation on Philosophers is that they're capital-only. The resulting opportunity cost is what'll hurt.